HYDERABAD: General insurers reported a 16 per cent growth in premium in October, up from 11 per cent during the same period last year. However, motor business moderated on weak OEM sales and third party (TP) business, but this decline was offset by the increase in other premium like fire and health.
According to data compiled by Kotak Institutional Equities, large private players like ICICI Lombard (down six per cent year-on-year), and HDFC Ergo (down 30 per cent) posted weaker than industry figures, Chola MS and SBI maintained robust performance.
Among segments, motor business reported a six per cent annual premium growth, moderating from the 15-20 per cent growth seen in the previous two months. The immediate reaction to new traffic penalties on motor TP premiums seems to have almost faded. Motor TP moderated sharply to 10 per cent year-on-year in October, Kotak noted.
Within motor, own damage (OD) business premiums remained flat over last year, in line with the annual run-rate after witnessing the first month of premium growth in October that was likely led by the festive season sales. Private sector continued to gain market share registering 11 per cent y-o-y growth, while PSUs saw a decline of four per cent.
Among large private players, motor OD premium growth for Bajaj and Chola MS was better than the industry while ICICI Lombard posted six per cent decline in premium for the month — the reason for such a sharp decline for ICICI is unclear. Acko and Go Digit remained the fastest, while the SBI General maintained momentum at 60 per cent y-o-y growth. TP business moderated sharply to 10 per cent y-o-y in November 2019 to levels well below YTD run rate of 16 per cent y-o-y growth.